Opportunity to buy green belt land- should I stay away!

[Clarty]

We have an opportunity to buy some green belt land. Our desire is to build a paragraph 79 house however understand from all the research that planning being permitted is slim. Some architects have suggested they would do a site appraisal for £4K. Is this really worth it? Is the whole opportunity even worth it? It seems a bit of a minefield. Your thoughts would be much appreciated. TIA

[Ferdinand]

I am not at all sure that "Greenbelt" qualifies as suitable for Para 79 - I thought it was for "in the open countryside", whilst greenbelt is a corset for urban areas.

 

The one thing about Para 79 is that you do not get what you want, you get something somewhere between what you want and what umpteen planners and experts think is suitable for the site. And it usually takes a lot of time. And usually costs a lot of money. Allow 100k budget for planning expenses.

 

I am not going to even try and answer, but:

 

Read through the articles on here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&oq=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.13037j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

And watch the Grand Designs episodes that have them (there are several).

And talk to the Council in general terms.

And read the few reports that are around.

 

Then take a view using your skill and judgement.

Ferdinand 

[Temp]

2 hours ago, Clarty said:

Some architects have suggested they would do a site appraisal for £4K.

 

I think you might do better spending a similar amount with a planning consultant. They are frequently ex council Planning Officers that have crossed over from the dark side. 

 

 

[Clarty]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

I am not at all sure that "Greenbelt" qualifies as suitable for Para 79 - I thought it was for "in the open countryside", whilst greenbelt is a corset for urban areas.

 

The one thing about Para 79 is that you do not get what you want, you get something somewhere between what you want and what umpteen planners and experts think is suitable for the site. And it usually takes a lot of time. And usually costs a lot of money. Allow 100k budget for planning expenses.

 

I am not going to even try and answer, but:

 

Read through the articles on here:

https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&oq=site%3Abuildhub.org.uk+pararaph+79&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.13037j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

And watch the Grand Designs episodes that have them (there are several).

And talk to the Council in general terms.

And read the few reports that are around.

 

Then take a view using your skill and judgement.

Ferdinand 

 

[Clarty]

Thankyou for your response. Much appreciated and will have a read. Thanks 

[Clarty]

So we have bitten the bullet after lots of reading and phonecalls and have instructed Hawkes Architecture to carry out a full site appraisal. They will determine the opportunity/potential or not as it may well be. Would rather spend a small amount of money now and lose that than lots more in the future if we couldn’t get planning. Has anyone got any experience with Hawkes? TIA